Despite success & support, Warriors ax Jackson

OAKLAND (AP) — The Golden State Warriors have fired Mark Jackson, ending the franchise’s most successful coaching tenure in the past two decades but also one filled with drama and distractions.

General manager Bob Myers thanked Jackson in a statement Tuesday for “his role in helping elevate this team into a better position than it was when he arrived nearly 36 months ago.” Myers said it was a difficult decision but the Warriors “simply feel it’s best to move in a different direction at this time.”

Jackson’s three seasons with the Warriors will be remembered for the way he helped turn a perennially losing franchise into a consistent winner and the bold and bombastic way in which he did it.

He guaranteed Golden State would make the playoffs in his first season, when they finished 23-36 after the NBA labor lockout. The Warriors went 47-35 last season and had a memorable run to the second round of the playoffs, and they were 51-31 this season before losing to the Los Angeles Clippers in the first round.

The Warriors had not made the playoffs in consecutive years since the 1990-91 and 1991-92 seasons. They had made the postseason once in 17 years before Jackson arrived.

Now the Warriors — with the help of Jackson, Myers and an ownership group led by Joe Lacob — are in position to contend for several years behind a strong young core led by Stephen Curry.

“Mark Jackson has had a big impact on the improvement of our team and the success that we’ve had over the last couple of years,” Lacob said in a statement. “Nonetheless, we must make some difficult decisions in our day-to-day operations of the club and this would certainly qualify as one of those examples. We wish Mark the best of luck in his future endeavors and thank him for his contributions over the last three years.”

Jackson, a former NBA point guard who had his best seasons with the New York Knicks and Indiana Pacers, had never been a head coach at any level when Lacob hired him away from the ESPN/ABC broadcast table in June 2011. An ordained minister who runs a church with his wife near their Southern California home, Jackson often spoke of his Christian beliefs and promised to turn the Warriors into one of the NBA’s best defensive teams and a perennial playoff contender — and he did.

But Jackson’s boisterous personality, at times, did not play well with Warriors management, his staff and — to a much lesser extent — his players, most of whom said they wanted him to return, especially Curry. And his attitude, which bordered on confidence and cockiness, might’ve ultimately cost him his job.

The Warriors still stuck by Jackson even when he created news off the court, including when reports surfaced in June 2012 that he and his family were the targets of an extortion attempt related to an extramarital affair he had six years prior, which led to questions about his credibility and morals.

The pressure on Jackson really began when the Warriors decided to pick up his contract option for the 2014-15 season last summer instead of negotiating a long-term deal as he had wanted. Management also encouraged Jackson to hire a strong tactician after top assistant Michael Malone — who had several disagreements with Jackson — left to become the coach of the Sacramento Kings.

Instead, Jackson promoted Pete Myers and other assistants and hired Lindsey Hunter and Brian Scalabrine. And while reports of rifts within the team surfaced on occasion, dismissing two assistants in a 12-day stretch before the playoffs perpetuated the idea that Jackson had fostered an environment of dysfunction — which Jackson repeatedly refuted.

The Warriors reassigned Scalabrine to the team’s NBA Development League affiliate in Santa Cruz on March 25 because of what Jackson called a “difference in philosophies.” Then, the Warriors fired Darren Erman on April 5 for reportedly recording conversations during coaches’ meetings and discussions between coaches and players without their knowledge.

Jackson and his family also were the targets of an extortion attempt related to an extramarital affair he had in 2006, which became public in June 2012.

Several home losses to lesser teams frustrated Lacob more than anything and cost the Warriors a chance to earn anything more than the sixth playoff seed, which they also had a year ago when they upset Denver in the first round before falling to San Antonio. The Warriors still showed a lot of fight — and an ability to make adjustments — with center Andrew Bogut out with a fractured right rib in the playoffs, pushing the third-seeded Clippers to seven games.